Ex-Warren City Hall employee files whistle-blower suit against mayor

Jul. 23, 2013

Mayor Jim Fouts

Written by

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

A former Warren City Hall worker who secretly recorded Mayor Jim Fouts making threats against other employees is suing Fouts and the city after he was reassigned from running data-driven programs to sorting auto parts.

James P. Hartley filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, saying his rights were deprived under the U.S. and Michigan constitutions and the city violated the state Whistleblowers’ Protection Act. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages.

Hartley left his job in June; his attorney, Deborah Gordon, said the city intentionally made working conditions so unpleasant that he was forced to resign.

“The mayor became infuriated with my client,” she said.

Gordon said the lawsuit is a “straight-up First Amendment case” in which Hartley was retaliated against after he told police about threatening comments Fouts made toward two former city employees.

Fouts and City Attorney David Griem said Tuesday that neither has received the lawsuit. Fouts called it “media-driven” and based on personal political attacks.

Griem said he thought Hartley was “trying to hit the lottery without buying a ticket.”

Fouts and the city have 21 days to respond to the complaint.

Fouts said Hartley wasn’t fired, he resigned, and that he could have kept his job as an at-will employee. He said he hasn’t had a word with Hartley since the secret tapings and hasn’t discussed anything with him.

“I could have fired him. I kept him on the job. I did not demote him. I did not take his office away from him. I did not reduce his salary,” Fouts said, adding that Public Service Director Richard Sabaugh made the decision in reassigning Hartley. Fouts said Sabaugh informed him of the move, but he didn’t direct Sabaugh what to do.

Fouts’ secretly recorded statements were investigated by Michigan State Police, but he was not charged criminally. He publicly apologized for “inappropriate language,” including profanity, and said he didn’t mean the comments literally.

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According to the lawsuit, in a conversation secretly recorded in April, Fouts threatened to kill former employees Jeffrey Schroder and Joe Munem, whom he suspected of being involved with Internet blog postings critical of him.

The lawsuit states that Fouts yelled words to the effect, “I’m sick of (expletive) Munem! If I saw him in the (expletive) street, I had a baseball bat — I’d beat the (expletive) down to the (expletive) ground. I mean, it would take me just a little bit to get a (expletive) gun and blow his (expletive) head out! That’s how pissed off I am! If I saw Jeff Schroder, I’d rip his (expletive) ass out! If I ever run into him … I’m going to rip his (expletive) ass out!”

In another conversation with Hartley, the lawsuit states, Fouts said, “One of these days, I’m just going to flip out and I am going to go over there and I’m going to take a 2-by-4 and beat the hell out of (Munem)! I may end up in jail, but I am getting angrier and angrier by the minute. ... It just takes so much, and then that’s it, Jim. I’ve been pushed to the edge. ... They are pushing me to the edge now. ... I’ve had it. ... This is the last straw.”

Gordon said that after Hartley went to police, he went from a suit-and-tie position with access to City Hall, a city vehicle and being a confidant to Fouts to wearing jeans and sorting car parts in a garage in the sanitation department without access to City Hall or e-mail. He was to climb a ladder and count car parts by hand and make hash marks on a piece of paper for each part, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also states that Hartley was reprimanded for the first time in his five-year career with the city because he tried to continue to perform his previously -assigned duties. His disciplinary notice was issued June 6 and included a day’s suspension without pay, according to the lawsuit.

He left his job June 17. Gordon said Hartley has not found another job.